Hi guys! Sorry it took so long was really busy with stuff but here's a chapter hope you guys like it! So enjoy!
Chapter 57
"That's the sky's no entry zone."Toriko said " A cumulonimbus cloud, also known as the thunderhead. It's over ten thousand meters tall."
"Might need to be careful or you'll get blown away in this weather." Aiko said
A few minutes later Komatsu changed into his lighter suit.
"It was clear a minute ago...how did it get like this?"Komatsu said
"When the atmosphere near the ground it gets unstable, it quickly causes an updraft."Toriko said while searching his backpack.
"That's why it makes those clouds."Aiko said "Sometimes it happens very quickly."
"Ah I found it, Oxygen leaf."Toriko said holding the leaf in his hand. He put the leaf in a oxygen mask. "Here Komatsu." He held it out to Komatsu.
"The higher we go the harder it might be to breath so wear that, it should help you."Aiko said
"Will it work?"Komatu said looking at the tiny leaf in the oxygen mask.
"It's a leaf that was taken from a rare oxygen tree so it'll work."Toriko said
The small group got their things together. Toriko carried Komatsu on his back.
"Will you two be okay without one?"Komatsu said as he put the mask on.
"I'll be fine Komatsu. "Aiko said giving him a reassuring smile.
"Aiko, take it."Toriko said giving her an extra mask.
"Huh? But don't you need one too?"Aiko said
"Don't worry about me."Toriko said giving her a reassuring smile and placing the mask in her hands "Anyhow here it comes!"
"Huh?"Aiko said
All of a sudden a small strong gust of wind started to rapidly. Toriko and Aiko stood firmly trying to not get blown away.
"This cumulonimbus cloud will blast the surface with a -50 degree mass of air."Toriko said the wind blasting toward them as bits of ice started to slowly form in his face. "A downburst."
"Toriko-San...Ai-chan..."Komatsu said feeling the cold
Aiko rubbed her arms together she glanced at Toriko and at Komatsu.
"Shivering!"Toriko said his body turned red warmth spread through his body, he put his arms around Aiko. Slowly warming up Aiko and Komatsu.
'In this weather he's using shivering but why is he hugging me? Did he forget that I can use my Reiki for this? ' She glanced at Toriko she felt her cheeks go warm. ' But it does feel nice when he's hugging me like this...Ah wait! I can't think like this! Toriko-Kun is Using shivering that will take too much stamina that's no good...'Aiko thought 'And in this place, well in any place you gotta adapt and fast.'
After a while the wind stopped.
"It calmed down."Komatsu said
All of a sudden giant hail started pouring down and hitting all around the trio.
"It's hail! I've never seen them this big!"Aiko said
A giant hail went at them.
"Knife!" Toriko exclaimed slicing the hail In half. Komatsu was freaking out saying that it was too big and was amazed that Toriko easily cut it.
"We gotta stay close."Aiko said
"Aiko."Toriko said before Aiko could say anything Toriko Immediately took her hand in his gripping it tightly. "We're running through in one burst!" He swiftly ran as Aiko followed still holding his hand.
'Huh?'Aiko thought she looked at him while running.
"Wait,Toriko-San! Ai-chan!"Komatsu exclaimed
The duo ignored Komatsu and ran dodging the hail. They manage to dodge the hail as it stopped and lightning nearly struck at them, after a second everything stopped and they stopped for a second breathing heavily.
"That was close."Toriko said
"Way too close."Aiko said she glanced down and saw that Toriko was still holding her hand. "Um...Toriko-Kun, you can let go now."
"O-oh uh yeah..."Toriko said quickly letting go of her hand and he had a slight color on his cheeks.
"Toriko-San! Ai-chan, I can't take it anymore!"Komatsu exclaimed
"Huh?"The two said looking at the chef with a curious look etched into their faces.
"It's way too dangerous to keep going."Komatsu said "We're racing toward our death!"
"Komatsu..."Aiko said
"Just calm down Komatsu!"Toriko said "Our opponent is nature. It's definitely not an Enemy! If You calm down and cope with the situation, you'll definitely be able to make it through."
"He's right Komatsu."Aiko said placing her hand on the top of his head trying to calm him down.
"And one more thing were not racing towards our deaths. We're moving forward in order to eat, in order to live!" Toriko said
Komatsu stopped panicking and looked at Toriko. Toriko got up and breathed a bit.
'He needs this...'Aiko thought
"I knew there wasn't much Oxygen, but..."Toriko said "I think I over did it a little."
"Toriko-Kun..."Aiko said taking off the mask. "You need this..." She started to breath a bit heavily by being in the high altitude.
"Aiko! What are you crazy?! You gotta keep that on!"Toriko exclaimed putting the mask back on her face. "I don't want you to do anything dangerous like that!"
"But...in this height and where we are I just don't want you in pain...I know it's getting hard to breath..."Aiko said "I just want you to be okay..."
'Ai-chan...She's always like that...'Komatsu thought
"Aiko..."Toriko said he gave her a gentle smile and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just trust me okay, Aiko?"
"I always trust you,Toriko-Kun."Aiko whispered softly
"Then let's go!"Toriko said Aiko and Komatsu nodded and they continued their path evading the harsh lightning and ran. "Here we go! We're breaking into the cumulonimbus cloud!"
The trio went inside the cloud harsh rain and lightning strikes at random places the wind was even rougher hardly letting the trio move on. The darkness surrounded the area hardly letting them see. Before they could move on a harsh wind manage to blow the trio away from where they stood. Toriko was slammed into the vine luckily Komatsu wasn't hurt by that, Aiko landed next to him she out her hand onto her face and felt that the mask already broke from the impact so she discarded it. She felt the air a bit thinner than she was used to. Her eyes fell on Toriko he quickly reached out his hand towards her and grabbed her hand pulling her close to him. He immediately pulled the large leaf covering them from the harsh wind and lightning but it didn't work the harsh wind broke through and blew them away for the second time Toriko kept Aiko and Komatsu near him not wanting either of them hurt. For a moment Toriko felt himself loosing consciousness until he felt something snapping out of it. He turn his head and saw Komatsu gripping him tightly.
"I believe in you,Toriko-San." Komatsu muttered
"Komatsu..."Toriko said he felt arms around him, he glanced at Aiko clutching him tightly. "Aiko..."
"Toriko-kun..."Aiko whispered "I trust you..."
"I'll be fine Aiko..."Toriko said smiling at her. "In this storm of air currents, you just relax like you're riding a ship."
'I gotta breath differently...maybe that breathing method my mom tried to teach me will work here...'Aiko thought she slowly changed her breathing pattern until she didn't see her breath turn white. 'I guess almost everything you taught me was right on the mark mom...'
Toriko grabbed a nearby giant leaf and the trio landed suddenly the wind stopped and saw something glowing up ahead.
"What is that?"Komatsu said
They saw a giant glowing bird with three eyes.
"This guy is...the legendary thunderbird said to live inside the thunder clouds."Toriko said looking at the bird.
"The lightning Phoenix! Oh wow he looks so beautiful."Aiko said in awe.
"Sorry, but I'll be helping myself to a few of your feathers."Toriko said he reached up to the birds feathers and plucked bird made a sound and just left the trio alone.
"Amazing. It's miraculous. The storm parts around it."Komatsu said
The lightning hit random spots and one stray bolt strike at them Toriko used the feather as a shield which was effective at blocking the lightning. They continued their path through the harsh weather slowly climbing after a while the weather slowly calmed down.
"The sky is clearing up."Aiko said
"The top of the cloud is close!"Toriko said "Come on Aiko! We're getting close!" He grabbed her hand and ran ahead.
"Okay! Just don't pull me so hard like that!"Aiko said
"Just a little farther! Just a little!"Toriko said full excitement.
Once they reached up the sun was so bright and the clouds are white and fluffy. They saw lavish green fields and vines all around the area. Also lots of clouds covering most of the area.
"This is the vegetable garden in the ether, Vegetable Sky!"Toriko said
"Look! Wow, it looks like as if There's grass growing on a cloud."Aiko said
"The smell of full rich soil..."Toriko said taking in the scent. "Let's try walking on it."
"Are you sure it's safe?"Komatsu asked
"It'll be fine."Aiko said 'At least I hope...'She thought
Toriko put one foot in the grass and was amazed that he could walk on it, Komatsu got off and walked on the green cloud in amazement. Aiko lightly jumped on it still not believing that it's a cloud. She noticed that Komatsu looked pretty old she must've guessed it was because of the high altitude. The trio continued walking while enjoying the peaceful scenery. Toriko sniffed at a cloud and said that it has volcanic ash thrown into the sky from a volcano and by that the grass manage to grow by absorbing all of the nutrients.
"That's really interesting."Komatsu said touching the clouds.
"There are lots of active volcanoes on the surface nearby."Toriko said "I'm pretty sure Wul volcano is close, too."
"The ash there is full of minerals."Aiko said
"Huh? Now that I think about it, I've been totally fine without the Oxygen mask ever since I got here."Komatsu said
"It's because of the greenery growing here."Toriko said "They're making oxygen through photosynthesis."
"That's why, I guess since we got here the air is more stable so it feels warmer."Aiko said
"It's nice to take it easy here, it truly is a paradise in the ether." Komatsu said
"Yeah it is. It's warm and really pretty here."Aiko said
The trio kept on walking forward until they stop at what looked like a jungle full of vines. They walked inside and Komatsu spotted an earthworm watching it with fascination.
"Oh! This is a Mineral earthworm."Toriko said taking a closer look at the worm.
"Those little guys are said to only live in the most fertile places."Aiko said
"This guy's a sign we're getting close."Toriko said
"Vegetable sky!"Komatsu said in excitement
Toriko sniffed the air a bit. "This smell! It's coming from over there!" Toriko said "Let's go!" Toriko ran ahead while Aiko and Komatsu followed.
Once Toriko stopped he couldn't believe what he saw he felt a slight bump on his back he glanced to see Aiko rubbing her nose. She opened her eyes and a smile started to spread to her face. They saw different kinds of giant vegetables from miles away from the colorful ones to the most greenish ones. Toriko and komatsu's eyes practically bugged out at seeing the vegetables.
'It's so pretty! I can't wait to pick a few to bring back home! Oh just thinking of cooking the most amazing things with these vegetables!'Aiko thought smiling. She saw that Toriko put down his backpack and walked a bit ahead looking at the vegetables. He pulled a daikon radish off the ground.
"I've never seen a daikon radish with fibers and moisture packed in so heavily."Toriko said holding the radish. He used his knife to peel and cut the radish, he took a bite. "Yum! It's got an unbelievable lushness! It feels like fresh,sweet stream water is flowing into my mouth and soaking into my body." He kept eating the daikon radish. "Then a deep savory taste to odeon soup stock slowly sets in...no matter how much I chew it, the texture stays crisp."
'It looks so good, I don't think I can even eat it just by how it looks!'Aiko thought 'I know! I'll take some home to cook a nice meal.'
"All right! Let's taste all of these vegetables!"Toriko said
"Yeah!"Komatsu said
The encountered marshmallow pumpkin which had a nice sweet taste and fluffy, Aiko thought they were really cute so she just took a bite of the smallest one she loved how it tasted, she glanced at Komatsu and Toriko savoring the pumpkin. Up next it was a broccotree hence the name a broccoli tree. Aiko wasn't a big fan of broccoli so she just let the boys have fun with it. After that they encountered a potato fountain. Toriko found a nearby leaf and scoop it up seeing a giant pile of french fries. He took a big handful and just ate it despite it being too hot for him, he smiled saying that the saltiness gave it a great kick to it. Komatsu ate it happily while Aiko just let them eat it she didn't feel like having the french fries right now so she just put it away in her gourmet case. After that Toriko and Komatsu were climbing a giant leek eating it raw somehow it wasn't even bitter when they are it. Aiko just picked the vegetables at least the small ones that she can bring back home she occasionally ate small bites to taste it not like the boys. Komatsu found some tomatoes that were juicy and sweet the two boys stuffed their faces with almost any kind of vegetable the female of the group got worried that they could choke by the fast pace of them eating it. After a while the two boys lied on the ground with a giant belly. Aiko on the other hand was okay and just looking around at the vegetables.
'I got lots of vegetables, I know I didn't eat as much as the boys but I only tried a little I don't know how they could eat so much.'Aiko thought 'Hmm...maybe I could make a type of stew with these.'
"Aiko, Can we talk?"Toriko said
"Yeah, what do you want to talk about?"Aiko said
"I-I wanna talk about...well y-you see."Toriko started he felt his cheeks go a bit warm.
"Are you okay Toriko-kun?"Aiko said she placed her hand in his forehead.
'I just gotta tell her...'Toriko thought
"Aiko...I.."Toriko started "It's just that I really L-"
A shout was heard interrupting what Toriko was going to say. Aiko saw Komatsu running comically far away from her. 'Uh oh...I think maybe since the vegetables are really good they digest fast too..and they ate way too much of those vegetables...' Aiko let put a sigh she glanced at Toriko as he held his stomach.
'Gah! My stomach?! Damn it! This is the worst possible time!'Toriko thought
"Aiko! Ill be back!"Toriko shouted he started to comically run along side Komatsu.
Aiko Giggled a bit. 'But I think it's kinda cute when he gets so happy eating anything despite the uh circumstances of it.' She thought
After a few minutes of waiting for the boys Aiko couldn't wait so she just started to walk to where they ran. She saw Toriko looking at the ground not moving at all.
"Toriko-kun!"Aiko said loudly "Are you okay now?"
Toriko didn't say anything he seemed too concentrated at something at the ground. Aiko ran towards him and saw a animal footprint in the ground.
'What? Is that an animals footprint?'Aiko thought her gaze at the print.
There you have it guys! Oh and a shout out to 17Reshiram! Hope you'll have an awesome birthday! Please leave a review and tell me what you guys think! Also if you guys wanna see anything in this story with Aiko and one of the heavenly kings feel free to pm me!
